The University of Limerick Research Cluster in Emotions in Society is delighted to announce that it will host an interdisciplinary conference on the theme of “Regulating Emotions: Contemporary Understandings and Interdisciplinary Perspectives” on the 30th of April and 1st of May 2012 at the University of Limerick. The conference is kindly funded as part of the “New Ideas” scheme by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS).

Theme: The study of emotional regulation (Gross, 1998a, 1998b) is a developing area of scholarship nationally and internationally. The role of emotional regulation in cognition and behaviour and its consequential importance in society is increasingly recognised within distinct academic disciplines including law, education, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, psychiatry and economics, for example. However, the current paradigm operating in the study of emotional regulation is for individual disciplines to examine the concept from an established perspective with little opportunity for active engagement in interdisciplinary scholarship in this area. This conference will provide an opportunity for collaboration across a range of disciplines which will allow new ideas to form and existing dogma to be challenged and critiqued.

Speakers: The conference will take place over two days and will include a combination of panel discussions, roundtable discussions and addresses by key note speakers. The conference line-up will feature a range of distinguished speakers from the US, Canada and Europe including Prof. Nico Frijda (University of Amsterdam), Prof. Keith Oatley (University of Toronto), Prof. Shinobu Kitayama (University of Michigan), Prof. Barbara Perry (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) and Prof. Ursula Hess (Humboldt University).

Submissions: The conference organisers welcome proposals from all disciplines on any topic relevant to the theme of emotional regulation. The organisers particularly welcome inter-disciplinary submissions, though this is not required. All proposals will be subjected to peer-review. Selected papers from the conference will be considered for extended version publication in a special edition journal. Possible areas on which papers may be given include, but are not limited to:

Sociology

Psychology

English

Business

Politics

Education

Music

Applied Languages

Medicine

Occupational Therapy

History

Information Technology, including Artificial Intelligence and

Law

Persons interested in participating in the event should submit an abstract of no more than 500 words along with a brief biography (150 words). Paper submissions should be received by February 29th, 2012.

Further Details including submission guidelines and information about costs are available from the conference web site.